As the Dodge A100 Hell Project proceeds in fits and starts, I’ve been so wrapped up in making the thing streetworhy that haven’t gotten around to doing anything about the external appearance… until now!
Yes, that’s a full set of Cragar S/S clones, in the proper anachronistic 14″ diameter and shod with big fat Grand Am Radial GTs (225s in front, 245s in back).
I got them from the owner of the cleanest ’74 AMC Javelin AMX I’ve ever seen; they came with the car and he decided he wanted to go with real Cragars.
The van looks so much better than it did with the white steel spokes that I may have to jump right to the Cherry Bomb exhaust upgrade, because a van that looks this mean needs to sound mean!
The Grand Ams are pretty old and I don’t quite trust them on the highway, so I’ll be shopping for some Mickey Thompsons in the near future; there’s room in the rear wheelwells to go to at least 255s out back. And for you aficionados of annoyingly vintage features, left-hand-thread wheel studs are right up there with mercury-based syphillis treatments and radium-enhanced toothpaste when it comes to the “dumb stuff they did in the old days” department. To make things even more fun on my van, only the left rear wheel has lefty studs; either the previous owner upgraded to righties all the way around and then did a rear axle swap, or he replaced the front studs and then lost motivation for the project.

Love it. And you should keep the 14in diameter, taller sidewalls mean better ride. My dad’s 1967 Mustang had genuine SS rims when he bought it from his MIL in 1978 but they were so beat to hell as to be unusable. He bought some inexpensive rims off of a neighbor and picked up a set of fresh Cooper Cobra GTs in the process. Car rode like it had a new suspension after that, the old Cragars still had bias ply tires on them.

I want genuine Dayton wire wheels for the right luxury car at some point in the future.

I want to be able to use the van to haul engines and stuff for future projects, so I’ll be leaving the cargo area pretty much un-shagged. I am going to do metalflake Naugahyde on the front seats, though.

Don’t forget the ‘If This Van’s a Rockin’…’ bumper sticker. I think the Cragar clones look great on there.
“To make things even more fun on my van, only the left rear wheel has lefty studs; either the previous owner upgraded to righties all the way around and then did a rear axle swap, or he replaced the front studs and then lost motivation for the project.”

One of my 66 Chryslers is like that. I swapped-in front discs from a 73 Chrysler. The rotors came with regular RH studs installed. My rear axle still has the original LH studs on the drivers side. Doesn’t bother me a bit.

I sigh everytime I see somebody put rims on a vehicle that cost more than the vehicle is worth. If the vehicle has a market value of $1000, and you put $2000 rims on the car, you know what you’ll get when the vehicle is totalled? $1000, minus your deductible usually. To get the value of customization, you have to get a rider on your policy to cover the value of the added equipment. Hardly anybody does this.
At least buying custom wheels beats RENTING them. There is actually a wheel rental shop in my neighborhood.

Uhh, anyone paying $2000 for a used set of Cragar knockoffs is an idiot. And Mr. Martin is no idiot, and did not pay $2k for the wheels. Hell, a set of genuine Cragar SS 14″ wheels would only set you back about $600 new.

Not sure if you’d agree with this Murilee, but if this my van….I’d say your almost done.
I’d replace the bumpers, fix the major dents, hit it with gray primer and tint the windows.
Maybe at some point, some bass boat blue paint with white side panels.

Murilee, how does the engine install in one of those? From top or bottom? Duh, probably top since you have it on a crane.

OBTW the LH lug nut threads on the LH side were not just “dumb stuff they did in the old days” unless you are a cost accountant. They were less likely to loosen if they were not tightened sufficiently.

Those white steelies look like the rims on my livestock trailer, so you are looking good now! Having grown up in the late 60’s/early 70’s the Cragar S/S on muscle and pseudo-muscle cars were common as dirt. Frankly, I never did like them, (but they look good on your van). I had a ’66 Plymouth that had the lefty thread lugs, what a PITA as the other cars we had (6 kids in the family with 4 driving at the same time, and a farm, we had lots of things to drive!) were all Fords and GMs. Had to look a bit to find chrome lug nuts but they were more common back in those days.

Hi Murilee. Nice to see that you’ve found a new home at TTAC. The Dodge is looking great. It reminds me of my father’s van when I was a kid, but he had the Keystone mags. I love Appliance rims. They’re the only manufacturer that ever made custom wheels for the FWD Eldorado. The only custom wheel that has more ’70’s street cred is the slotted Ansen Sprint. As for the Cragar SS, everyone does that.

Murilee,
One thing I would try to improve on that van would be a conversion to disc brakes at least on the front, I remember those were not reallly good at stopping when you need to…
Kudos on the wheels and the project!!
Saludos!

Murilee, you’re making nice progress. While I lobbied, on Jolopnik, for black centered Cragars, I cant argue with full chrome, augmented with outline white letter tires. Have you decided on the exterior paint scheme? I still think a refresh of the original color scheme and loosing the bumpers is a good look. Keep posting your progress. BTW, I saw a pickup version in your Colorado salvage yard post. That had to be a real temptation…